World crisis comes with less savings

TIRANA, Feb 16 – Despite the claim from Albanian authorities that the global financial crisis has not had its negative effects on the tiny Balkan country, figures from commercial banks speak differently.
The monthly bulletins from the Ministry of Finance show that there was a decrease of 22 billion leks in savings at banks in October and November of last year.
Official data also shows that 34.8 billion leks were withdrawn from banks during those two months, very likely because Albanians were afraid of a second pyramid investment scheme. In November the banks had 47.9 billion leks, roughly 371 million Euros less than a year ago.